One aspect of a business may be client communications, wherein each customer has a particular case file, matter, project, etc. Where the business provides products and/or services related voluminous client files, communications between the business and the voluminous clients can be extremely burdensome. When an individual communication is received from a client, the business must quickly determine: (1) to which project the communication should be associated; and (2) to which business department the communication should directed.
Prior art communication systems typically comprise many customer service representatives and a significant communication infrastructure. Upon receipt of the customer communications, the customer service representatives must associate all client communications with the correct client file, whether the communications are email, telephone, facsimile, etc. Each communication must be documented. For example, a telephone conversation must be transcribed or converted into a written document, an email must be saved as a document, a text message must be saved as a document, a photographs or videos must be saved in a usable format. However saved or documented, the customer service representatives must then associate the communication the appropriate client file. Next, the customer service representative must create a message directed to the business department tasked with responding to the client's communication, wherein the client communication is attached to or otherwise referenced in the message.
In one prior art communication system, verbal client communications are received via a telephone call center, email client communications are received via a website portal, and paper communications are received via regular mail. The system requires human intervention to forward phone, email and mail communications from clients to the departments charged with handling the client files. The system requires customer representatives to create electronic documents that are saved in the client files and then attached to emails to be sent to the handling departments. For example, mailed communications must be scanned in a word searchable format. The clients are unable to directly call, email or mail the handling departments because contact information for the handling departments is unknown to the clients and/or the clients do not know which departments are charged with handling the particular issues being presented by the clients.
In some systems, as many as 700,000 client communications are processed per day. Communications may be miscategorized. The time to route client communications may be too long. Associating the client communication with the correct client file is particularly troubling. Misdirected client communications may become temporarily misplaced or even lost, which results in delayed responses or nonresponses. When a client calls, emails or mails a general question, judgments must be made by the intake customer service representative to determine to which department to forward the question. When the intake customer service representative looks at a client communication, the representative needs a full understanding of the customer's file to place the client's question in context. If the customer service representative does not fully understand the client's file and the client's question, misrouting becomes more likely.
In some systems, failures to property categorize and forward client communications can raise compliance issues where government regulations set specific standards regarding confidentiality, timeliness, etc.
There is a need for communication systems that intake hundreds of thousands of client communications, via telephone, email, and mail, associate the client communications with client files, and route the client communications to departments charged with responding/handling the customer communications.